Cloud Poetry

Let America be America again, Dreams, Dream Deferred

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John Burroughs (1837-1921) was an American naturalist and conservationist who spent most of his life in the Hudson Valley. He is best known for his observations on birds, flowers, and rural scenes, as well as religion, philosophy, and nature.

A collection of 366 poems by the writer Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374, Arezzo) in service of his love for Laura, a woman he had met once on a Good Friday. Other themes throughout the Canzoniere are equally important: religion, poetry, politics, time, glory. The love theme itself should be considered as the nucleus around which Petrarca develops his deep psychological analysis: thanks to his poems inspired by Laura (laurus is the symbol for poetry) the poet aspires to reach glory, which in turn can fight the all-destroying power of time.

Hafiz describes holy dervishes

One of the seven greatest Latin hymns of all time, Stabat Mater Dolorsa is based upon the prophecy of Simeon that a sword was to pierce the heart of his Mother, Mary. The hymn originated in the 13th century during the peak of Franciscan devotion to the crucified Jesus and has been attributed to Pope Innocent III, St. Bonaventure, or Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306)

Excerpts from “Musical Literacy” by Jerrold Levinson, Journal of Aesthetic Education Spring 1990

T.S. Eliot’s classic poem

Allen Ginsberg’s Classic poem “Howl”, 1955

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Ma'at, Symbol of Order Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order...

Ma'at, unlike Hathor and Nephthys, seemed to be more of a concept than an actual goddess. Her name, literally, meant 'truth' in Egyptian. She was truth, order, balance and justice personified. She was harmony, she was what was right, she was what things should be. It was thought that if Ma'at didn't exist, the universe would become chaos, once again!

For the Egyptian believed that the universe was above everything else an ordered and rational place. It functioned with predictability and regularity; the cycles of the universe always remained constant; in the moral sphere, purity was rewarded and sin was punished. Both morally and physically, the universe was in perfect balance.

Because of Ma'at, the Egyptians knew that the universe, that everything in the universe, worked on a pattern, just as, later on, the Greeks called the underlying order of the universe logos (meaning, order, pattern).

"In the beginning was the logos*, and the logos* was with God and the logos* was God." - John 1:1

* Logos was the 'Word', another name for Jesus.

Egypt, then, was seen to be nothing without Ma'at.

Ma'at was reality, the solid grounding of reality that made the Sun rise, the stars shine, the river flood and mankind think. The universe itself, all the world around them, was sacred in the ancient view. "Ethics" is an issue of human will and human permission. It is a function of the human world of duality. What is "ethical" for one group is sin for another. But Ma'at, the reality that made all groups what they are is transcendent of ethics, just as a rock or a flower is amoral, a-ethical, without "truth or falsehood." How can a flower be "false" or "ethical." It just is. How can the universe be "ethical or moral, right or wrong"? It simply is. That is Ma'at.

Sign of the Cross

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

The Hail Mary

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Glory Be

GLORIA PATRI, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut